The present invention relates to the use of a preview scan in order to allow a user to more accurately select exactly what portion of a picture he finally scans.
In the prior art for scanners, a picture is placed on a scanner window. The scanner scans the picture and stores the resultant image in memory in a computer. The image may then be displayed upon a monitor.
Some scanners allow a user to select a portion of the drawing to be scanned. This is done by actually specifying the dimensions of the image to be scanned. A viewer therefore needs to use a ruler or some other measuring device to determine exactly what image he will receive. This use of manual measurement is cumbersome, and often the performance of many scans are required in order for a user to obtain exactly the image he desires to scan.
Further some scanner hardware may allow an image to be reduced or enlarged when the image is finally printed upon a printer. However, the user is typically only told by what percentage the image will be reduced or enlarged. This often leads to experimentation by a user to discover just how much an image needs to be reduced or enlarged in order to be at an optimum size for a particular use.